In the News (Thu 21 Mar 19)

James David Wolfensohn is believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Wolfensohn is chairman of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.

He is director of the Population Council at the United Nations (77-84), a director of the Rockefeller Foundation (79-85), a director on the Business Council for Sustainable Development, affiliated with the Ford Foundation, the Century Association in New York, and a Honorary Trustee at the Brookings Institute.

JamesD. Wolfensohn, the outgoing president of the World Bank and a member of the Brookings Board of Trustees since 1983, announced today an initial $1 million gift to the Brookings Institution to support action-oriented fresh thinking on effective solutions to the challenges of global development.

Wolfensohn's gift and the work it will support in the year ahead are intended to lay the ground for creation in 2006 of a five-year, $10-million policy center that will delve further into development issues with his own active engagement.

Wolfensohn's support, Brookings will further its practical and innovative research and outreach activities related to combating global poverty.

Wolfensohn briefed the media on the upcoming Spring Meetings, reviewed the situation of the Bank as a leading development institution, and reflected on his 10 years as president.

Wolfensohn responded to questions from around the world on subjects such as debt relief, his most significant accomplishments, the future of development, global security, the Bank's role in Africa, the battle against corruption, how to engage youth, and other issues.

Wolfensohn urged wealthy nations to reach out to the world's most fragile countries, which are burdened by conflict, weak governance and political turmoil.

Wolfensohn noted that while people under 25 already account for more than half the population in most developing countries, their concerns, which commonly include education and unemployment, are not being given the urgency required to build a more secure world.

Wolfensohn Well, the reason that I choose this is that it brings together Jackie and Daniel in a very early collaboration in which I think he does it with the New Philharmonia in London and the artistic collaboration between these two was something that I've never seen before or since.

Wolfensohn I was looking for something which meant something to me currently but where the recording was of artists who have their place in history already and I've chosen this, it's a recording of Heifetz, Piatigorsky and Rubinstein which is I think definitive.

JAMESWOLFENSOHN: You have to remember that I'm from Australia originally, and so in the 1950s and 1960s I saw international capital coming to Australia, largely because this was a place where they hoped that returns would be better and where you could get in early and you could grow.

JAMESWOLFENSOHN: The lesson is [that] the Russian situation is a good example of what I've been talking about through this interview, which is that it's very difficult to have development unless you have the structure.

JAMESWOLFENSOHN: I spoke to the head of the World Trade Organization, who's a friend of mine, and I said to him, "You know, if only you were as aware as we are at the World Bank of these issues, you wouldn't have this trouble.

JamesWolfensohn: I think it'll be a bit more because they'll be seven billion out of eight people on the world in two decades' time, seven billion in developing countries, the same billion plus fifty million in the rich countries.

JamesWolfensohn: I know but I think that the one thing that you have to say in the interest of sub-Saharan Africa is that the Africans are now trying to take a much more active role with peer review in relation to the NEPAD Agreement.

JamesWolfensohn: There is no question but there is still a significant difference between the old white South African companies in terms of their existing power and the newly emerging black companies.

JAMESD. Chairman of the Board Ronald S. Lauder, President Agnes Gund, and Director Glenn D. Lowry of The Museum of Modern Art announced today that JamesD. Wolfensohn is the recipient of the first annual David Rockefeller Award for enlightened generosity and effective advocacy of cultural endeavors.

Wolfensohn is Chairman of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and a Member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

Wolfensohn is also Chair of the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, Inc., which has funded a number of educational, social, medical, and cultural initiatives.

JamesWolfensohn is an the investment banker turned spokesman for the world's poor.

Mr Wolfensohn was born in Australia, but moved to London to work in merchant banking and then spent much of his working life on Wall Street, where he rose to become chairman of leading trading firm Salomon Brothers (now part of Citigroup).

However, Mr Wolfensohn found himself the target of anti-globalisation protesters in April in Washington, while on the other side of the political spectrum his critics in the US Congress want to scale back the World Bank's ambitions.

JamesWolfensohn will also be recognized for the energy and boldness with which he has implemented new approaches and long-term policies at the World Bank, among which are his initiative for debt-reduction for the poorest nations as well as a comprehensive framework for sustainable development.

JamesWolfensohn has led global efforts, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, for addressing the problems of the poorest and most disadvantaged nations.

According to the University spokesman, JamesWolfensohn will receive the honorary doctorate in recognition of his carrying the banner in the struggle against poverty, ignorance, disease, and hunger around the world.

WOLFENSOHN: Well, I was very close to Jacqueline du Pre, who was a cellist, as you may know, one of the great cellists of this generation who died of multiple sclerosis.

WOLFENSOHN: September the 11th changed the perception of everybody that poverty, that violence, that disturbances convey themselves throughout the world without regard to whether you're living in New York or living in any part of the developing world.

Wolfensohn has visited more than 100 countries in the six years he's been president, often traveling to the poorest places in the world.

Wolfensohn, some unilateral sanctions have been imposed on countries like India and Pakistan, and these sanctions have impacted on loan decisions at the Bank, except for what is known as basic human needs.

WOLFENSOHN: The situation of interfering in African politics is something that I have discovered is a little difficult since I came to the Bank.

WOLFENSOHN: Well, I'm very much aware--I'm very glad you raise that question because it allows me to highlight something which I've omitted to highlight before, and that is the heavy dependence that we have on private sector flows.

Wolfensohn's success was built on personal connections, on charm and trust, and the ability to bend powerful people to some common purpose.

Wolfensohn was born in December 1933 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from England to Australia during the Depression.

Mallaby weaves Wolfensohn's storied life into the long and tangled history of the World Bank, which, together with its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, was created by the Western powers in 1944 to help shattered economies arise from the ashes of World War II.

Wolfensohn built up his own portfolio along the way and by the end of the decade, he was a millionaire many times over and a close compatriot of the Rockefeller clan.

Though this work began before Wolfensohn took over the helm of the Bank, he does not appear to have introduced more modest plans in the meantime, even while wringing millions in interest charges from the world's poorest countries.

To understand Wolfensohn, it helps to know something about him besides his engaging smile, his shock of unruly white hair, and his carefully-cultivated image as a committed social reformer.

Wolfensohn will focus his efforts on two areas: first, Palestinian-Israeli coordination concerning the non-military aspects of the withdrawal, including the disposition of the assets that will be left behind; and second, the revival of the Palestinian economy in the wake of the withdrawal,” Rice said upon announcing Wolfensohn’s appointment April 14.

Wolfensohn will focus his efforts on two areas: first, Palestinian-Israeli coordination concerning the non-military aspects of the withdrawal, including the disposition of the assets that will be left behind; and second, the revival of the Palestinian economy in the wake of the withdrawal.

Wolfensohn can only help them achieve what they are willing to achieve together. His mission is to work closely with Israeli and Palestinian officials to promote cooperation and ensure a smooth transition in Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. He will also encourage more direct contacts between the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves.

JamesWolfensohn grew up in the Sydney suburbs, the son of a highly intelligent but failed businessman.

Privately members of Wolfensohn's inner circle suspect that the timing of the Wolfowitz announcement, while the outgoing president was on the other side of the Atlantic, was no coincidence.

But while the bank's 10,000-strong staff - dotted around the world thanks to Wolfensohn's diktat that they break out of their pampered Washington base - are mostly fretting and outraged, senior bank officials are uncertain whether European governments will veto Wolfowitz's appointment.

Wolfensohn is convinced that the Bank has an indispensable development role: to help finance and assist the desperately poor countries that seldom see private capital.

Born in 1933 to a modest middle-class family in Sydney, Australia, where he attended university and law school, Wolfensohn served as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, was a fencer on the 1956 Australian Olympic team, and practiced law prior to attending HBS.

From 1980 to 1986, in addition to his full-time Wall Street duties, Wolfensohn became the chairman and savior of Carnegie Hall, New York's financially troubled arts mecca that was then on the brink of collapse.

JamesWolfensohn, president of the World Bank Group, believes that Yukos case is an isolated incident which is not indicative of the overall relations between Russian state and the business community.

Speaking at a press conference in the central office of Interfax news agency, JamesWolfensohn said: I believe that one doesnt have to be a genius to understand that Yukos case has certain influence on foreign investors.

Wolfensohn noted however that Yukos affair has already tipped the markets off balance, and that oil companys market capitalization has decreased by 25 percent.

JamesWolfensohn, president of the World Bank, giving the Commencement address.

Following is the text of the Commencement address delivered by JamesD. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank Group.

This is indeed a great institution, an institution that has enormous achievements in sciences, in social sciences, and achievements, which have been marked by many previous Commencement speakers and by the world at large.

DAR ES SALAAM, July 17 (AFP)- World Bank chief JamesWolfensohn Wednesday urged Africans to increase efforts to restore peace and curb a further spread of HIV/AIDS in the continent, without which there could be progress.

On HIV/AIDS, Wolfensohn said the greatest concentration of cases were in Africa and the scourge was already reversing gains that have been achieved by economic reforms.

Wolfensohn arrived in Tanzania on Monday night, after a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

JamesWolfensohn, the Quartet’s Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement and a former president of the World Bank, has been busy lately, trying to solve the touchy problem of what to do with Gush Katif greenhouses once Israeli evacuates the Gaza Strip next week.

Thursday, in order to demonstrate personal commitment to solving the crisis, Wolfensohn put his money where his mouth is, and joined a group of private donors who together will contribute USD 14 million (NIS 63 million) to buy the greenhouses from Israeli farmers and transfer them to Palestinian counterparts.

Sources close to the negotiations said Wolfensohn felt the personal contribution was important.